Tag: Anna Hazare

The post is titled so since it deals with the hottest topic/ phenomenon of the Indian diaspora in the recent past, Anna Hazare. The upshot of this entire thing is that NDTV & CNN- IBN have gotten so much more interesting and the debates are excellent to watch. Its nice to hear really articulate and educated elite of our country discuss something. Wait, I think I am still hung over the God-level debate on CNN-IBN with Rajdeep Sardesai. I suddenly wished I had majored in political science! So I am not qualified enough to give a nice and beautiful opinion like a seasoned political analyst but I am not a supporter of Anna’s desired outcomes. He is a catalyst that has woken the country from slumber and shown that mass movements are possible and brought to life the meaning of participatory democracy, but I think he should stop with that and just ensure the Govt. works on passing a lokpal bill. To force the government to accept ‘his’ version, well does not augur well with me at all.
Do not get me wrong. I detest corruption and salute Anna Hazare for waking up a nation fed-up with this disease. What he has achieved is no mean feat but his capabilities on policy making or thinking through cannot be compared to the stalwarts in the government. Yes, I mean it. This government has been the most corrupt so far what with all the scams and arrests but one has to note that it is also the first time a government has sacked ministers and jailed them. It is also the first time a goverment has spoken to Anna Hazare and the elite representatives of the ‘civil society’ and opened their doors to reforms. Manmohan Singh might not be a great leader, but he is a great thinker and his contributions to the country must not be brushed aside. My other main point is, what is the other alternative? BJP, where all are aged 90 and above? Who want to push forward the VSS and other religion based differences ? This government also has some truly seasoned people like Kapil Sibal, Chidambaram who are capable, articulate and intelligent. I am of the opinion the BJP is not having clean hands in the scam score sheet either, just that they got lucky. No one does actually, so far. Even the common man had to sneak in those fifty and hundred rupee notes at government offices to get his/her work done. According to the Lokpal today, everyone born before 1985 is guilty. Then why not make the most of what we have now and look at new beginnings?
Some clauses of the bill that is under the scanner which differ in the bills are all in favor of the government. I wont list them all but for one, how can the PM be brought under the Lokpal? If his every move in office will be under the scanner, no major decisions will ever be made! The government has also added the clause that he can be put under the scanner once he has quit office which sounds so reasonable. As is the top order of our country makes policy decisions so slowly. This would just jam the whole system. The thought of a referendum scares me. The country has not just one but so many big issues plaguing it like Naxalites, Telengana, Kashmir , Maoists etc who are just next in line. If governance was to fall solely in hands of people threatening of blackmail unless their exact demands are met, I fear the country would fall apart. So it would be really nice for Team Anna to just force the goverment to pass the bill asap but the version could be debatable. I only hope people understand that their fight should be for a bill to be passed but not a specific version. The actual outcome of the Lokpal and if it is a cure of corruption at all, well thats a totally different issue.
So that was my two cents. I know most people will scurry off reading Anna Hazare, being bombarded with entire newspapers and round the clock coverages on all channels. Still, its cathartic to have written all this. Oh and on another note, I enter my third academic year in PhD! It is scary to have the “three” attached now. I guess my fun days are truly over. Classes begin tuesday and the real good thing is that another hot, humid and horrible summer draws to a close. On the brighter side, one more semester till I see Whisky! yaay! Can’t wait!
PS: Kindle crashed and sent me into a four day depression. I wonder why it had to happen during my last “free” weekend.
PPS: The link to the awesome debate is here.